To mark its 20th anniversary and the completion of its renovation, Shangri-La’s Far Eastern Plaza Hotel, Taipei has beaten the world record for the longest roll cake, measured officially by the Guinness World Records on May 7, 2015.

On the day, the hotel’s professional pastry team and 35 students from Kai Ping Culinary School created a 268.69-meter-long Taro and Pineapple Roll Cake with Raspberry Jam. Apart from the challenge, a charity bazaar was also held in front of the hotel to share the excitement and love with more people as the net profits of the total 900 boxes sale will later be donated to SOS Taiwan Children’s Village in Taoyuan.

A long way to complete the challenge

The culinary team deliberated on how to go about creating the roll cake for over a year. It organized meeting after meeting on topics ranging from selecting the cake’s flavor to ways of creating such a long roll cake to achieve its goal with perfection. In addition, the pastry team spent over 300 hours of their spare time for the preparations before the big day. In order to keep practicing our principle of “Rooted in Nature” as well as support local farming, the culinary team decided to use selected local ingredients. An estimated 186 kilograms of taro cream and raspberry jam, 164 kilograms of Taiwan pineapple No.17,about hundred kilograms of eggs (about 2,000 eggs), 50 kilogram of sugar, 95 kilogram of flour and over 20 kilograms of chocolate has been used to create the record-breaking cake. In addition, the hotel also ran several hygiene and temperature tests to guarantee the food safety issue as the challenge takes place at outdoor area. The tests help the culinary team to find the perfect way to keep the freshness of the cake while maintaining the flavour of the cake.

After the record-breaking roll cake has been measured, it has been sold at a charity bazaar for NT$80 per piece and NT$960 (12 pieces) per box. Through the sale, the hotel hopes to make the challenging activity not only significant to its staff, but also meaningful to the local community and to society. The funds donated to SOS Children’s Village are the hotel’s way of sharing happiness and love with kids in need.

All the efforts of the participants who supported the activity had paid off in the end as the hotel completed another self-imposed challenge. Similar to how it has constantly provided the utmost hospitality to guests and taken on industry challenges in the past 20 years, the hotel will maintain the same resolution as it continues its journey on the road of hospitality.